Token EffortEverton · 2026/27Entries

Season preview · 16 August 2026

Year two on the dock

Everton have rebuilt the midfield but go into the season with no right-back and a manager in the last year of his contract.

Unashamedly written by a machine · The suffering is real

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Two summers into the Friedkin era the club is in better order than the team, so this time the money went on the midfield, nearly £60m of it, and Everton's thinnest department has become its deepest. Crystal Palace arrive at Hill Dickinson in a week and Everton still have no right-back, so Röhl, a central midfielder, has been filling in, and up front the shirt is Barry's by default after eight league goals last year. Moyes starts the final year of his contract and the club wants top-half form before it offers another. The pre-season began with the finger at Stoke and ended on its two best performances, and the supporters, whose predictions cluster between 10th and 14th, are braced.

Where the Club Stands

Two summers into the Friedkin era, the club is in better order than the team. The stadium sells out every week. The ownership is settled inside the Pursuit Sports structure. Goodison's redevelopment is under way. For a decade the question was whether the club could survive the football. Now the club is waiting for the football to catch up. Two 13th-place finishes in a row, the last on 49 points, restored order without making progress. The dressing room has named the target. Tyrique George said this month that the aim was "to get Europe," and that the message came straight from Moyes's team talks.

The summer's money went on the midfield. Nearly £60m guaranteed, over £70m with add-ons. Hayden Hackney came from Middlesbrough for £16.5m plus £8m. Tyrique George's loan from Chelsea became permanent at £18m plus £6m. Merlin Röhl came from Freiburg for £17m, an obligation to buy that survival triggered. Christian Nørgaard came from Arsenal for £7m, and only on 5 August. Brennan Johnson arrived in a straight swap that sent Dwight McNeil to Crystal Palace. Gueye and Coleman have left, and Tim Iroegbunam will probably follow to Hull once a £16m bid clears his hamstring. The recruitment holds together. It is not finished. Everton still have no right-back and no striker. Jack Grealish's expected loan return is in doubt, with City pulling him back into their own pre-season.

Last Season: The 49-Point Grind

Everton were a better side away from home than at it. They lost eight league games at Hill Dickinson in its first season, more than on the road. Their home goal difference was minus one. The ground sold out every week at a club-record average. It was also, by repeated account, colder than Goodison. Sandhills station had crush problems early in the season. A pre-match DJ was dropped after supporters objected, following the season's worst home result, a 0–3 to Tottenham in October. The heaviest defeats were that one and a 1–4 at Newcastle in November. The best days were 3–0 over Nottingham Forest in December and 3–0 over Chelsea in March. This side can take a top-half team apart when the front line works.

Mostly it did not. The £110.8m spent in the summer of 2025 went on Dibling at £35m, Barry at £26m, Dewsbury-Hall at £25m, Alcaraz at £13m, Aznou at £7.8m and Travers at £4m. It bought one clear success, Dewsbury-Hall, who by spring was arguably the team's best player, and a good deal of promise deferred. Barry scored 8 league goals in a hard first year. Beto was top scorer with nine. The team scored 47 goals and conceded 50. The defence was ordinary mid-table stuff, so the attack is where the case rests. The cups gave no relief. Mansfield were beaten in the Carabao before a 0–2 exit at Wolves, and the FA Cup ended in the third round after a 1–1 draw. Both were over by early January. The season ended with a 1–0 defeat at Tottenham on 24 May that completed De Zerbi's great escape.

The lesson carries into this season. Moyes's Everton were hard to beat, easy to draw with and short of goals. The gap between 13th and the top half was at home. An ordinary home record in place of 6W–5D–8L would have made a 55–58 point season. The midfield rebuild and the striker search are for that, more than for any change of system.

Pre-Season: The Ledger

Three wins, two draws and two defeats, and in the right order. Late July was dismal. Hamburg turned it. Stuttgart was the one shambles. The two best performances came in the final week, against the two best sides. The Lille game, the send-off at Hill Dickinson, had the whole summer in it. The first half had "interchanging, incisive passing and dare I say it, pace," in one match-goer's words. Dewsbury-Hall ran the game and won the penalty that Ndiaye scored. Then the substitutions on the hour took the shape out of the side. Keane and Aznou got their wires crossed, Travers made a fantastic save, and Haraldsson scrambled in the equaliser in stoppage time. Everton dominated, wasted it and conceded a soft goal, as they did so often last season.

The Squad, Honestly Assessed

The spine is top-half. Pickford is back from the World Cup. Tarkowski and Branthwaite are in front of him. Branthwaite came through his "final fitness test" against Lille after hamstring surgery. In front of them the midfield has gone from Everton's thinnest department to its deepest. Hackney is the signing everyone agrees on. The forum called him "a real midfield general" who "wants the ball all the time," and noted him dropping into the back four to build play. Across three matchdays nobody dissented. Dewsbury-Hall was man of the match in the finale and arguably of the whole pre-season. Harrison Armstrong's energy has forced him into the reckoning. Nørgaard, "smart signing that for £7m," signed on 5 August and has not played yet. He will be 33 in the spring. Garner has had groin surgery, so the rebuilt department starts the season without last year's best midfielder. That says how badly the rebuild was needed.

The corners are the problem. The search for a right-back has run all summer without an arrival. Walker was rejected early. Wan-Bissaka drifted to Villa. Johnston's move died on a fee gap and then an injury. Spence went to Inter. Muñoz is available at £20–25m, a bargain, but Moyes is reported not to want a converted wing-back. Barcelona's 20-year-old Héctor Fort, reportedly available for £12.8m, is the frontrunner with a fortnight of the window left. Fresh reports have Muñoz back in the running. Against Lille the job went to Röhl, a central midfielder who "has never started a competitive game at right-back," as one thread title put it, with the centre-back Jake O'Brien as the fallback. Röhl has been one of the signings of the summer, "poetry in motion, a class act" in one verdict. Playing him at full-back is a hole in the squad with a brave face on it.

And then the striker. Thierno Barry has the shirt by default and by declaration. "I didn't have a good season, so now it feels like revenge. I want to show everybody who I am," he said. His pre-season backed him up. He scored against Dundee and Newcastle, linked play better and set up a goal with a lovely back-heel. It also brought a 4/10 against Lille, when he "didn't look like scoring." Beto's summer was worse. The forum has largely given up on him: "he's where our attacks go to die" is the common view, with a few voices in his defence. The wishlist is still a wishlist with fifteen days left: Yılmaz of Galatasaray, terms reportedly agreed but the fee unresolved and Spurs circling; Evan Ferguson on loan, if his fitness can be trusted; Delap, at a "demented" £50m.

Moyes, the Contract, and the Temperature

Moyes starts the final year of his contract without a new one. Talks were floated in March and he waved them away in April: "there is no need to start any talks now". Nothing has been agreed since. The club wanted evidence of top-half form before extending. Moyes skipped press duties in Germany altogether, and is keeping his own counsel.

The support is split. Some fans gave Moyes the finger at Stoke. One thread is titled "sleepwalking until Moyes is sacked." The forum is arguing over whether his caution is blocking the right-back. The most thoughtful post on that subject said nobody outside the building can know whether his vetoes are costing good players or filtering dross. The patient camp points to order restored, the best young core in years in George, Dibling, Armstrong and Branthwaite, and a pre-season that ended on its two best performances. Most Evertonians are not angry. They are braced. "Seems like Groundhog Day," one season-preview thread began. The predictions cluster between 10th and 14th. Nobody much fears relegation, and belief in the top half depends on the last fortnight of the window.

The Opener: Crystal Palace (h), 22 August

Dwight McNeil will be back at Hill Dickinson in Palace red and blue within a fortnight of the swap. Brennan Johnson got 5/10 on his cameo debut for "flashes of promise" and loose touches. He gets his first chance to settle a fanbase split between "the pace we desperately need" and "Walcott all over again." Palace arrive as Conference League winners, but diminished. Glasner, Guéhi and Lacroix have all gone. It is Pierre Sage's first competitive match in English football. A team with top-half intentions has to win this sort of opener.

Verdict

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